Adam Crozier, chief executive of ITV plc said the outlook was good, pointing to a strong pipelines of programming, including the return of Cold Feet.

“We’ve had a good start to 2016 as our strategy of growing and rebalancing the business continues to deliver,” he said.

“ITV Studios performed strongly in Q1 with our acquisitions coming through. We have a healthy pipeline of new and returning programmes, including Victoria, Cold Feet, The Voice and Alone, which gives us confidence for the full year and into 2017.

“The traditional UK television market is robust with overall viewing and impact volumes up. Our Broadcast business remains strong with ITV main channel share of viewing up 3% in the first four months of the year while our online viewing consumption grew by 22% year on year.”

He added that ITV was now a “much stronger and more diverse business” but there was a backdrop of uncertainty in the UK advertising market, which he said began with the debate over the Brexit.

“For the full year we expect ITV Studios to deliver double digit revenue and profit growth driven by recent acquisitions, although as ever its performance will be lumpy across the year,” he continued.

“Online, Pay & Interactive is on track for double digit revenue growth and we expect to outperform the UK television advertising market.”